A Journey story. Plebe summer, the day before second set was going to take over...The firsties from first set was trying to instill the fear of God in us, telling us that as tough as they were, second set was going to be ten times worse. We had been flamed on all day, especially the last hour, and they let us know how disappointed they were. We were all out in the passageway, braced up against the wall, and they were fed up with us. They were screaming at us, we weren't ready. "Everyone, go back and get your bayonets and your newspaper articles and be out here in 5 minutes!!" They were apparently not satisfied with our daily knowledge (conversant with two newspaper articles and a boatload of other trivia) and we expected to have to... I don't know -- hold our bayonets at arms length until our already drenched white-works had another pint of sweat dripping down? So we chopped back into our rooms and grabbed our bayonets and newspapers, checked each other over, and chopped back out. When we got back out in the passageway, there, by everyone's door was a pizza box, two liter bottles of Coke, and a watermelon. One of the firsties had brought his speakers out in the passageway and started blasting "Stone in Love" by Journey. We were given carry-on, and of course the bayonets were to slice up the watermelon, and the newspapers to keep it clean. The surprise of what we expected contrasted with the joy of relief, release, and accomplishment was intense. I would feel it again at graduation, getting my wings, and finishing up SERE school. To this day, that's the song lifts me up. "Oh, the memories never fade away." That was 11th Company. Did everyone do that? I'm curious.
No comments:
Post a Comment